You are here

Home » Blog » The 2014 Legislative Session in Review: What Passed and What Didn't

The 2014 Legislative Session in Review: What Passed and What Didn't

March 27, 2014

“The shortest legislative session in recent memory.”

This is the phrase given to the 2014 Legislative Session. 40 days squeezed into 3 months. This hasn’t happened since former Speaker of the House Tom Murphy routinely pushed to end the session before St. Patrick’s Day.

Due to a federal judge’s mandate to give more time for oversea absentee balloters (especially for runoffs, which are typically held in July), the Secretary of State moved the state primary from June to May 20. According to state law, the Governor and legislators may not campaign while in session.

Thus, we had the shortest legislative session in recent memory.

Legislation

Hundreds of bills and resolutions passed through the House of Representatives and Senate this year. Some of the more visible issues such as medical marijuana (HB 885) and regulating certain car-service companies, such as Uber and Lyft, (HB 907) did not pass. Other bills such as adding the Ten Commandments to the State Capitol (HB 702), opting out of the federal abortion mandate (SB 98) and allowing licensed gun owners to bring firearms into certain buildings and schools (HB 60) did pass.

Constitutionally speaking, our legislators fulfilled their job by passing HB 744, aka the Big Budget. The Senate and the House approved Governor Deal’s budget with certain amendments allotting $20.8 billion for FY 2015 (starting on July 1, 2014 and going through June 30, 2015). Major highlights of the budget are:

HB 772: Requires a drug test to be administered to those receiving benefits and electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards with a photo of the recipient. State employees have the right to determine who should be tested and who shouldn’t.

HB 697: Creates the Zell Miller Grant — a subprogram to the HOPE program. This grant will pay the full tuition of those enrolled in a certificate or diploma program who achieve and maintain at least a 3.5 grade point average. Aimed at helping those who attend the Technical College System of Georgia in FY 2015, experts predict that about 16,000 students could benefit from this grant.